Discussion Topic

SuperTopo has long been looking for the perfect iPhone app partner and we found them with rakkup. The rakkup app gets you to the parking area, gives you turn-by-turn approach directions and helps you select which climb is best suited for you. It then incorporates the SuperTopo Red Rocks Climbing guidebook where you find photos, history, detailed beta and topos. It is by far the most feature-rich and innovative climbing guidebook app available today.

Red Rocks Climbing SuperTopo on the iPhone with Rakkup

Credit: Chris McNamara

Right now only the SuperTopo Red Rocks Guide is available (just in time for Red Rocks Rendezvous) as well as the rakkup Smith Rocks guide.

There is a free Red Rocks sample that you get once you download the app for FREE at the iTunes store.

The complete Red Rocks guide is available on the iPhone for an introductory price of $9.99. Offer expires in one week..

Brief Tour of the app in 5 screen shots
1) First you get an overview of all the climbs (cams are trad climbs and bolt hangers represent sport climbs).

Rakkup overview of Red Rocks.

Credit: Chris McNamara

2) Next, you can scroll around and find which climbs are best suited for you by sorting by difficulty, reading the beta, history, etc.

rakkup for Red Rocks

Credit: Chris McNamara

3) Once you select your climbs, the app gets you to the parking area and then gives you turn-by-turn navigation on the trail: just follow the red arrow. Yes, the rakkup founders Rob and Todd hiked every single approach in red rocks with a GPS to get this data!

rakkup red rocks

Credit: Chris McNamara

4) Once you are near the climb, you can browse photos from the SuperTopo guidebook to get oriented. You can also see beta, history, and written descent beta and more.

rakkup red rocks

Credit: Chris McNamara

5) Finally, get a color SuperTopo on your iphone and follow it up the route.

Frequently Asked Questions
Post any questions you have about the app below and I will answer them here:
Q: What about descents?
A: At this moment there is no decent tracking in the app for the climbs that have walk-off descents. However, the written SuperTopo descent beta is included in the app.

Q: how does this app affect battery life?
A: Like all apps that use the GPS capabilities of your phone, it drains your battery quickly when the GPS is being used in Map Tracking mode. This app should work for 1-2 hours in Map Tracking mode if you start with a full charge. When you are not using the GPS function and just browsing through the app, your battery should last a normal amount of time. So there are a few options:
a) carefully use Map Tracking mode by turning it off when you don't need it.
b) get a $20 extra external battery like this one good for 1-2 charges or a $40 battery like this one good for 4 iphone charges
c) use a portable solar charger with a built in battery. Our current favorite is the SolarMonkey Adventurer.
d) a combination of all of the above

Q: Does the app work with no cell signal?
A: Yes. Or course you need a cell signal to buy the app.

Q: When will there be more SuperTopo's available on the iPhone through rakkup?
A: Red Rocks is our pilot project. If it goes as well as we hope, then we hope to add Yosemite SuperTopo guides to the app soon.

Chris McNamara and the rakkup founders at Red Rocks Rendezvous
Come by the Outdoor Research booth on Saturday April 6 at the Red Rocks Rendezvous to get a demo of the app from Chris McNamara and the rakkup founders Rob and Todd. All money from purchases of the app during the Rendezvous go straight to the Access Fund.

Please tell a friend about the free sample and promo price!
We are in the "trying to send" phase... we need help getting the word out. If you like the app and free sample, please tell a climbing friend, app addict, Red Rocks junkie. Thank you!

Thanks Chris. Be ready for all the "old skoool" tech haters to rag on this.

The only thing better is my Chipotle app. WHich is pre-loaded with cash and has my order already in it. You dont even have to wait in line. You go to the front and pick up your already paid for burrito.

Great idea. Finally a way to accurately tell how long everyone's falls are. Downside is all those epic stories of 50+ foot falls would actually be called out as 20 footers (same phenomena as "I once caught a fish the size of...")

brilliant! the gps function is awesome. but...if u already own the red rocks book in pdf format do u basically have to buy it over again for the app or can the existing one u own be integrated into the app?

Not sure about the timeline on Android support. Yes, ideally it would be out at the same time, but remember that overall us climbers are a small group and therefor the business are small with small budgets. Right now rakkup is 2 guys, SuperTopo only has one full time employee (me)... so there is a lot to do with only a few people on a really small budget!

This is also a start-up, and it will take some popularity of the app to inspire the next versions and expanded offerings... so once again, please tell a friend!! Here is the Supertopo on rakkup page, right now it is very lonely and could use some likes and comments!

As far as getting SuperTopo on rakkup if you already bought the Red Rocks ebook pdf: again, at this stage with the limited people, budget and time we had to put getting the app out as a priority and push off the integrating of special pricing for past purchasers until down the road. However, the good news is the Red Rocks book on rakkup is only $9.99 and as I think you can see from the free sample on the iTunes store, it is a LOT of climbing app for that price. Did i stress enough the turn-by-turn approach beta!! All for the price of 2 beers at the Mountain Room Bar.

Thanks again guys for the comments, suggestions and support. This has been a ton of work for all involved so the positive energy, word-of-mouth and suggestions are all much appreciated!!

As for the Supertopo app, I'll sure be checking it out, though I'm pretty old skool. Technology is great since it's there if you're inclined to want or need it. I think the gripe about some folks' use it of is not the tech itself but rather a complete dependence upon it rather than using it as a supplement to common sense and judgment.

Well, I have an iPhone 4S (iOS 6.1.3), downloaded the free app, bought the $9.99 content, and downloaded the content. Two observations:

a) Once downloaded it displayed the highly dubious "Expires 4/3/14" - it's like, if you're selling subscriptions you need to be way, way (did I say way) more upfront about it as I thought I was buying a product. You know, like if I bought your paper guidebook it would not 'expire' on 4/3/14.

b) On opening the downloaded $9.99 content the app crashed and now the app crashes every time you open it immediately after displaying the splash photo.

Better tell your homeboys to 'rakkup' those keyboards and start heading out on the next pitch...er, version.

P.S. I'm a software guy and know how it goes so I'm fine waiting for a clean 4S version.

I have seen the app demonstrated and it really exceeded my expectations. Getting to the base of alot of these routes can be challenging. I have been on more than one extended route find. Now you get there quick and have great topos fo rht e route. Get me the Android version pronto!

Thanks for all the love guys. healyje, I'm sorry your initial experience wasn't a good one but I can say it's far from typical. Rest assured we have done a LOT of testing on this puppy in many environments -- my personal daily driver is a 4S on 6.1.3 same as yours -- and haven't seen a crash at startup before. Bottom line though, we'll respond to the email you sent and either make it right or issue a refund, of course.
Anyway we're here listening and learning, and hope you like what you see. I like the fall-detection feature suggestion especially...

1. At Red Rocks, an area I don't know that well, rakkup has been helpful in preventing me from getting lost, especially in the pre-dawn race to a route. There's nothing more annoying than blowing an alpine start by taking a wrong turn in the dark. Wanna be first on Crimson Chrysalis? Don't get lost.

2. At Smith, an area I do know well,rakkup has all kinds of paths and shortcuts I didn't know about. Not that I'm in a big rush at Smith, but the new paths took me through parts of the park that don't get much travel. It was like seeing an whole new park.

I remember when the ST guide first came out for Yosemite. At first, people complained because the information was so detailed and helpful that it took some of the adventure out. Well, that was true for sure--it did make routes less committing. Before ST, as a newbie, I had some scary and excellent adventures in the valley. (The Braille Book topo from the original guide book gave no clue what was coming, and it felt epic and amazing at the time -- 1993.)

I'll be curious to see if there is similar backlash here.

Also, is there a version where the directions are given by Darth Vader? I often get lost at the roundabound.

The Rakkup guys will make it right for you, don't worry about that. They are climbers just like you and me and are certainly not out to make a quick buck. Contact them, explain your problem and I'm sure you'll get taken care of in a way that makes you happy.

Brilliant! If you're looking for ideas for version 2, I'd say, anything that makes it interactive. Users could leave comments, or add photos or gps coordinates. Link to trip reports, let people upload trip reports from pitch 25 on Iron Hawk. The iphone is super powerful, with a camera/video and gps built in. Its a personal tracking device, although that makes some people nervous about big brother it could also help someone rescue you. There's lots of weather aps. The possibilities are endless.

The next big project:
1. Take a Google augment reality glasses.
2. Add there a software (an app).
3. Now they show me the way to the crag. Highlight trail. Warn about awkward and slippery spots on an approach, etc.
4. Highlight routes.
5. When I begin to climb they show me holds. Footholds. Give me advises like "High step to the right and drop the right knee... well, now you can reach that crip".
6. Highlight protection spots and give me advises like "Use the purple C4 here. Do not forget to extend this piece with at least 6" draw".
7. Warn me about rope length.
8. Manage my rack ("Do not use your last red C4 here, you'll need it to build an anchor, place the green after a couple of easy moves").

Hey everyone, Big thanks for the feedback on this thread and for getting the word out. I'm super stoked that we are partnering with SuperTopo to bring the climbing community the most innovative high quality digital guides out there. This wouldn't have been possible without a great publishing partner like SuperTopo. Thank you Chris.

In response to Prod's question about whether we're looking to partner with other authors in the future, the answer is YES. Please check out authors-and-publishers to learn more.

Ok, We listened to your feedback on pricing and are going to change the price from 9.99 for one year to $19.99 to own the book forever (right now the code is set so that it will actually say 99 year license).

Anyone who bought the book for already $9.99 gets to own it forever as well (A way of saying thank you for being an early adopter).

AND, if you buy the book before Sunday at midnight, all the proceeds go to the Access Fund.

What a nice app - quite a few years ago I started to make a "climbing diary" app that, "in my mind", had about 50% of the features of this. It never really got off the ground due to lack of skill, lack of energy and lack of time.

This is great - have you thought of making a paid version of this that would operate as a climbers diary - i.e. the user would build their own database?

I really hope that app will eventually include yosemite. Right now I have a PDF reader on my phone and have the books downloaded. So I use my phone as an e reader. I then also reference the Tom Harrison map app as well as the mountain project app for pic references of routes. Yeah I know it's not adventurous but I really don't climb all too often and hate wasting time wandering around looking for the crag.

If you're headed to Rifle this summer, we've got you covered! The new Rifle Mountain Park guidebook from Wolverine Publishing is available in rakkup, or you can get both the print and digital versions at a reduced price. See http://rakkup.com for details.
More books are in the pipeline, too. Anywhere you guys particularly want to see?

Since there was a lot of interest in this thread in an Android version of rakkup, I just wanted to say that we've released it today in the Google Play Store. It took longer than we'd hoped but we're proud of the result. We hope you like it.
We have lots of other exciting stuff in the hopper for the rest of the year, too. I'll drop a brief note here when we have specifics to share, but there's more information on the rakkup website and you're always welcome to contact me directly.
Thanks to the community and happy climbing!
-Rob

Chris make sure to CYA on the "forever" licensing terms...
Maybe let them have "forever" licensing on the existing as-is product with bug-fixes for 12-24 months. Then they have to pay extra in a few years for content updates with new routes and conditions.

So you have a hybrid subscription/update model, continuing revenue when new value is added (new platforms, new routes, bug fixes and features), but people get to keep what they initially buy "forever". You'll have to deal with different software release branches- bug fixes only for each major version to give to people for up to 12 months after initial purchase, then separate major versions that add new features. The content packs can also be versioned so you pay for an initial chunk, then get a deep discount when you upgrade to the latest version.

Have fun sorting out the details.

This definitely looks like a great product for folks unfamiliar with an area and limited free time to not get lost on the approach and blow plans for the one big day. For example, lots of climbers with day jobs who come to Vegas for a work conference would be able to make great use of this.

Im curious - does anyone think that smartphone climbing apps are the future of guidebooks? Will the printing press draw its wheezing last breath at the hands of a bunch of silicon chips and organic LED screens?

I personally like books, and will never abandon them. But I do admit there is some value to the app form of the guide too. Maybe the future is both?

Regarding the discussion above about subscriptions: effective immediately, all of our three-year subscriptions have been changed to "forever" products that you own and keep. SuperTopo's guide to Red Rocks has always been this way, and now it's across the board. We were able to get approval from all our content partners to respond to the customer feedback and we hope it brings you more of what you want.
This includes retroactively extending all previous purchases, too. New purchases will include one year of free guidebook updates, but previous purchases bought as "three year" subscriptions have been grandfathered to get the full three years of updates as well. After one year, updates will be available at a reasonable cost which will naturally depend on how much and how often each guide is updated.
My sincere thanks to the people here who took the time to share their opinions. Please feel free to email me or post at rakkup.comhttp://www.rakkup.com/rakkup-discussion/ if you have questions.
We update our apps constantly to keep trying to make the experience better and hope the next time you head to Red Rocks or one of the other areas we cover, you'll give us a try.
-Rob